Sullivan - Symphony in E minor - "Irish"

    Yes, Arthur Sullivan of Gilbert and Sullivan. As far as I know, this is his only symphony and is title the "Irish", in the same way the Mendelssohn's 3rd is the Scottish. The ideas for the piece were generated while he was on vacation there. Overall, the vibe is early-mid Romantic, and kind of sounds like an amalgamation of Schubert, Schumann, and Mendelssohn with a couple exceptions that I'll talk about briefly. Mostly, though, the piece just sounds like an imitation of other symphonies at the time, without a lot of Sullivan's personal style in it.

    So the exceptions... the outer movements have a heavy reliance of dotted rhythms, and are probably the closest to demonstrating the style that Sullivan is known for. The second movement's main theme is curiously presented in octave horn and alto trombone (yes I read that somewhere... can't pick out an alto trombone out of a crowd). The third movement feels the most genuine, with an almost pastoral quality and an excellent use of oboe solo. Also odd is that I wouldn't have assumed this was a British symphony until the last two movements.

    Other than the third movement I would probably just suggest a Schubert or Mendelssohn symphony to someone. To be fair, probably Schubert, as I'm not the biggest Mendelssohn fan.

Sammartini 5 in Bb Major

   Ok this is going to be a really short entry, which is fitting as this symphony by Giovanni Sammartini is not particularly long. But also because I realize that maybe I don't have the knowledge baseline needed to make educated commentary on earlier symphonies. Like, the piece seems solidly constructed enough, but it vanishes from my mind seconds after hearing it. I love craft as much as the next guy, maybe more, but for anything other than background music I'm not sure I would really suggest this. I can't even comment on the orchestration, since it is just strings and harpsichord throughout. Though to be fair this is an early symphony of Sammartini so maybe I should try and listen to something later by him.

Goldmark 2

    Ok... way behind on my posts so here goes a big ol dump of 5 of them. First off is Karl Goldmark's second symphony. He was a late Romantic Hungarian composer and you can definitely hear the influences of the Wagnerian school of thought in his composition although apparently the two composers had issues with each other (go figure, Wagner having and issue with a composer named Goldmark).

    I would overall say that the symphony fits in the vein of the Wagnerian school, but perhaps a little less excessive than Bruckner or Wagner. It has the complex use of forms, emphasis on motives over themes (to a degree), highly contrapuntal development of ideas (although that is more generally Germanic), and extremely dramatic high and low points. The first movement is an exemplar of these traits and even has a bit of the Brucknerian tendency to pause briefly between dramatic shifts in the tone of the music. Of note to me were the fugal development (which seems a bit odd in the first movement of a symphony), and the climactic section about 8 minutes in to the movement.

    The slow movement is pretty standard fare for this era, but not nearly as long or excessive as many symphonies at the time, which I think works in its favor. I often find myself getting lost in the excessive slow movements of the late Romantic, and they also seem to be the most homogenous movements in terms of timbre which does them no favors.

    The scherzo movements on the other hand, tend to be more short lived than I like, although in the proportions of this symphony, it seems about right. I really enjoyed this movement. The opening movement is a delicate interplay of phrases between the woodwind and string choirs. This movement really struck me though with the contrasting theme which is chorale-like with a trumpet solo, which almost reminded me more of British music than German.

    The last movement opens with a slow section, but quickly works in to an Allegro Alla Breve that is a great display of technical prowess. In a good way... that isn't always the case. The brass sit a lot of this movement out or in the background, only coming to the foreground to signal the end. This movement has swirling chromatic gestures peppered throughout it as well.

    Overall, I think I'll keep this in the back of my mind for when I'm in the mood for something late Romantic, but don't have an hour to listen to one. It seems like a solid B+ kind of piece to me. I still prefer Bruckner, but this symphony also has it's place.

Smith - Symphony in A minor

Rec.:London Mozart Players

    This is a symphony I was thinking of doing for the week of symphonies by women composers, so I'm doing it now, because I clearly didn't get to it then. Alice Mary Smith was an English composer in the mid-1800's and wrote a couple symphonies, in addition to many other works. This work doesn't have the tonally ambiguous nature or overly dramatic tones of the Romantic, but it rather seems like an extension and refinement of Classical music.

    The clarity of the themes is one thing that strikes me as Classical in nature with this symphony. They are almost always the foreground and unobscured. In many hands this would get dull rather quickly, but her orchestration, while conventional, is very skillful and precise, which keeps the straightforward presentation of ideas from getting dull. That might actually be a good description of the work overall, mediocre ideas saved by excellent craftwork (not kraftwerk, though). And I do appreciate some good craft displayed in addition to artistry.

    This is another one of those symphonies that remind us not to draw stylistic lines in the sand with respect to date. I feel like we tell a narrative in the Romantic era about how complexity builds up until Brahms decided to look back to the simplicity of the Classical era to inform his music, but the more I listen to composers that are off the beaten path, it seems like that tradition never really died during the Romantic. We all just love Beethoven so much that we are more concerned with the development of music in his footsteps, but it seems like plenty of composers were happy to keep developing in a more conservative style during this era as well and that their music is equally interesting. Well maybe not to Beethoven's... that guys music is legit I hear, but certainly to some other Romantics. I'd rather listen to this again than Schubert 1 again.

Wanhal - Sinfonie in G minor

Rec.:Camerata Zürich

    Hmm... I'm gonna have to stretch to find something meaningful to say about this one. That is not an indication of quality, but that it fits the mold of a Classical symphony almost too well, and there aren't any rough edges or unusual features to really point out. Each movement is about what you'd expect out of a run of the mill Classical symphony. It is firmly what I'd consider background music, but I may want to check Johann Baptist Wanhal more because it seems like he was a pretty major figure at the time, and especially in Czech Classical music (really? I really need to stop gravitating to Czech composers so often).

    Anyways though, I'm gonna skip the movement by movement yet again, because the symphony just kind of vanished from my head when I was done. I mean, the themes were good, the scoring and orchestration were good, everything was good, but there was no real drama to the piece. It didn't seem to tell a story to me (no, I don't mean that in the programmatic sense), the movements just kind of start and then stop after fulfilling the requirements of that movement. But again, if you are looking for good study music, it might be ok? I find that the kind of middle of the road Classical music is best for that because you aren't constantly distracted by inspired moments in the piece.

Mozart - Cassation in G Major

Rec.:Toronto Chamber Orchestra

    And now for something that really catches the spirit of April Fool's Day. It is both fun and stupid. Wait you say that title isn't for a symphony. Well, this is more commonly known as the Toy Symphony by (maybe?) Leopold Mozart. This is definitely a piece to only listen to once in a long while. While the various bird calls and percussive effects are interesting to listen to because of how out of place they sound among the traditional Classical music, it wears thin pretty quick because they are used kind of blandly and repetitively. The percussion effects are particularly awkward.

    Other than that the symphony is a pretty standard 3 movement affair, although the drone in the last movement is an interesting musical idea, when present. But clearly, this piece wasn't composed to be the most stunning piece of serious music, and was probably meant to entertain children, so that does forgive some of the plain presentation.

    Anyways, it is a fun novelty to check out, but not much more beyond that.

Gossec - Symphonie à 17 parties en fa majeur

Rec.:Concerto Köln

     Checking the dates on Francois-Joseph Gossec I find it interesting that it was written in 1809 by a composer who did most of his symphonic writing in the 1760's and 1770's. This is because this sounds like a Baroque work in many ways that is just adopting the structure of a Classical work. What is even weirder are hearing little flashes of Romanticism in spots. Probably because this guy was born in 1734 and lived to be 95! Probably making him a unique example of a composer who wrote in three pretty distinct eras.

    That is also what I would say is the most compelling case for checking this symphony out. It is crazy to think that this was written AFTER Beethoven 1. I can't think of anything else I've heard like this and I actually quite enjoy it. It has the building intensity of Baroque sequencing practice, with the clarity of Classical melodies, and the orchestration sense and dramatic moments of an early Romantic work (minus the harpsichord, but again that is what makes this great).

    I'm going to skip the movement by movement break down here because the above describes each movement well. Each movement serves the purpose you expect out of a symphony at the time, although I find it odd that the minuet is the longest movement. Another one to definitely listen to. Oh, I also picked this because I like the idea of 17 parties, especially in F major.